Vet on Call
by Thatoneloserkid
Summary: Jemma is the on call vet when an injured puppy is brought into Jemma and Fitz's clinic. It just so happens said puppy belongs to Skye.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey :) this is my new Skimmons fic. I'm not sure I like the title but I absolutely suck at titles. This is also way longer than most chapters will be.

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Jemma looked up when the bell above the door dinged, signally someone had entered. She frowned because everyone had rescheduled their appointments because of the huge storm that had been roaring all day.

"Hi, sorry, I didn't know if you guys were open since the lights are all off." A man said, clutching a small, soaked Australian Shepherd in his arms.

"No, we are open but the power has gone out and we have to save as much of the emergency generator as possible, hence the candles." Jemma explained with a little smile as she walked over to the man, surveying the dog in his arms. The dog couldn't have been more than six months old and his left hid leg was matted with blood. "What happened to him?"

"I don't know. I was driving home from work and he was on the side of the road. I think his leg is broken."

"So he isn't your dog?" Jemma tentatively took the dog from the man, calmingly running her fingers through his fur when he whined in pain.

"No," The man shook his head, following Jemma into one of the back rooms. "I only just caught sight of him through the rain."

"It was great of you to stop, not maybe people would have."

The man nodded, pointing back towards the door. "I really need to get home. My wife is going to kill me for being over an hour late."

Jemma laughed and nodded, her attention focused fully on the dog in front of her as she washed the blood matted fur. "Ok, thank you."

Jemma washed the dog and surveyed the damage. The leg was broken, and judging by the couple of cracked ribs and cuts and scrapes all over his body he had been hit with a car. Jemma hoped the driver just didn't realize and hadn't just left the dog for dead.

"We are just going to see if you have been chipped, buddy. See if we can get hold of your mummy or daddy." Jemma cooed like she was talking to a child, scratching the puppy under the chin before placing a chew stick in front of him.

Jemma grabbed the Microchip scanned from the counter and ran it over the back of the puppies neck, sighing when the scanner beeped and a number appeared, signaling that the dog was chipped.

"Your owner is smart," Jemma murmured as she moved to the computer on the side bench, typing in the ID code into the patent list. Nothing. This dog wasn't registered at this vet.

Of course, nothing is never that easy. Jemma pulled up the email addresses of the other two vets in town and emailed them the ID number and said that the dog had been brought in with a broken leg, and that she was going to realign the bone and treat the dog.

"You are a good boy, aren't you?" Jemma smiled, turning to look at the dog who was still chewing on the chew stick, whining ever so often.

Jemma waited until the dog finished the chew stick before pulling on a pair of blue, latex gloves and set up the anesthesia to knock the dog out. The dog didn't put up a fight when Jemma pulled the mask over his nose and mouth, peacefully falling asleep.

She had just turned on the overhead lamps and was about to shave the fur from the dogs leg when the computer behind her pinged, signaling she had received an email. She pulled off her gloves and opened up the email. The dogs name was Comet and his owner was called Skye.

Jemma chuckled to herself at the names, rolling her eyes affectionately at how well the names fit together, and picked up the phone to called this 'Skye'.

"Hello?" A stuffy voice mumbled down the phone and Jemma couldn't help but sympathizes, she couldn't imagine how terrifying it would be to loose her dog.

"Hi, is this Skye?"

The woman on the other end was silent for a second before hummed. "Yeah, who's this?"

"This is Doctor Jemma Simmons, from Gotham veterinarian center in New York City. We had a puppy brought in a little while ago and we think he belongs to you."

"Yes. Yeah, my dog had been missing since last night. Is he ok? Is he alive?"

"Yes, he's alive. I think he was hit by a car, a motorist found him on the side of the road," There was an 'oh god' from the woman on the other line and Jemma paused to allow her to speak but continued when she didn't. "His leg is broken, I was just about to realign it and put it in a cast when your vet emailed me with your contact information."

"Thank god! Thank you so much. Can I come and see him?"

"Of course. Just come right through to the back room."

Skye thanked Jemma another four times as she searched around the house for her car keys and thanked her _again_when Jemma told her to drive safe before hanging up.

"Your mummy is on her way." Jemma said, though she knew the dog couldn't hear her, and changed her gloves.

Skye can bursting into the room around fifty minutes later, just as Jemma was pinning the bones in place, she was soaked through and her hair was plastered across her face. "Oh my god,"

"He's ok," Jemma assured, smiling over her shoulder at Skye and held up her bloody gloves. "I would shake your hand but…"

"Yeah," Skye nodded, looking from Jemma to Comet. "How could someone just leave him?!"

"I like to think they maybe they didn't know they hit him."

"Why is he here and not at our usual vet?"

"The man who found him brought him here and I didn't want to have to transport him, he was in a lot of pain and we didn't know how long he had been out there, so there was a high risk that his bone could set out of place."

Skye nodded, dragging her wet hair out of her face. "I was so worried, he was gone since five o'clock last night. We were out looking for him for until three am."

"He was brought in about an hour ago by a motorist, he's a good dog."

Skye hummed, bitting her nails as her eyes trained on the dog on the examination table. Then Skye started sniffing, and, at first, Jemma through her was crying, but when she glanced over there was no tears in the girls eyes, then she realized she was soaked through and probably getting sick. "There is a heater over there."

Skye glanced behind her briefly and nodded but didn't step back to heat herself up.

"Honey, you are going to get sick." Jemma leveled her eyes on Skye as she got the the stitching equipment ready. "You should heat yourself up and when I'm done here I will get you a set of dry clothes from my locker."

"You don't have to do that."

"I know. But I'm going to guess that you wont want to leave until Comet wakes up and that wont be for a few hours."

"Can I take him home after that?"

"Sorry," Jemma apologized, shaking her head lightly. "We need to keep him in over night for supervision. Then you will have to take him to your vet once a month for a check up."

Skye moved back to stand by the heater and Jemma stitched up the wound on the puppies leg.

"I'll just go get you those clothes." Jemma smiled over at Skye as she pulled her gloves off and threw them in the trash as she left.

Jemma rummaged through her locker and pulled out a pair of sweat and an old wooly sweater she had in her locker for a while, quickly sniffing them to make sure they didn't smell bad and heading back to the examination room. When she got their Skye was now crouched by the table, her chin resting on the cool metal sides, running her hand over the dogs ears as she spoke to him. "And I'm going to board up the goddamn fence, how did you even get through there?"

Jemma smiled, walking further into the room and holding out the clothes to Skye.

Skye straightened when she heard Jemma entered the room, smiling sheepishly at being caught speaking to her comatose pet.

"Don't worry about it, I sometimes have a full length conversation with my dog. It when you start answering your own questions you need to start worrying." Jemma teased, handing the clothes to Skye. "You can change in the restroom just through there."

Skye nodded, smiling appreciatively at Jemma. "Thank you."

Jemma nodded. "I will cast up that leg and put him in one of the kennels to sleep off the anesthesia."

"When will that be? I can come back."

"No, no. You don't have to leave. It's dangerous to drive in that weather." Jemma assured, smiling sweetly at Skye. "Besides, it's getting kinda creepy in here on my own, with only candles lit and with the thunder outside, I feel like I'm in a teenage horror film."

"Oh, so you think a murder is going to burst in here and kill you and you want to take me down with you?" Skye cocked her head to the side, raising her eyebrows and grinning at the vet.

"I was actually planning on using you as bait for the killer while I get away." Jemma bantered as she gathered everything she needed to make the cast.

"And what about Comet? Are you just going to leave him here, too?"

"Of course not, I'm not a monster." Jemma huffed, "I would take him home and he could meet Curie."

"Curie? As in Maria Curie?"

Jemma's eyes lit up when Skye said this. "Yes!"

"She was a chemist, right? That Polish lady who won two nobel prizes and died a horrible dead via radium?"

"Yeah, how do you know that?"

"I'm not a completely uncultured swine." Skye grinned, opening the door leading to another room where she would be getting changed. "Also, there was a documentary on about her a few days ago, I couldn't find the remote and Comet was asleep on me so I couldn't move." Skye added before disappearing through the doorway.

Jemma smiled to herself as she mixed the ingredients needed for the plaster.

Skye came back into the room about five minutes later, placing her clothes in the plastic bag Jemma had set on the counter for her and stood by the heater, waiting for Jemma to finished plastering Comet's leg, placing him carefully in one of kennels when she did so.

"Why is it so quiet?"

"Everyone rescheduled their appointments because of the storm, plus it's late so it's usually quiet around this time." Jemma shrugged off her work coat and hooked it up as they left the room, walking down to the reception.

"Are you working through the night? I saw that this was a twenty four hour vet."

Jemma shook her head, sitting down on one of the comfortable bench seats that were there for waiting patents. "I'm on until three then Fitz is taking over."

"Wow, that's a long shift, even from now." Skye glanced up at the clock as she sat down beside Jemma to see it read ten past seven. "When did you start?"

"Five."

Skye let out a whistle. "Man, you must be exhausted by the end of the night."

"I'm usually just bored." Jemma shrugged a little and they both lapsed into silence, the only sound was the rain pelting off the window and the odd roar of thunder.

"I love thunder and lightening." Skye muttered as she turned to look out the window, resting her chin on the back of the bench seat.

Jemma smiled, allowing her eyes to really run over the girls face for the first time. She was beautiful, that much was obvious from the moment she tumbled through the door, even with the bags under her eyes from not sleeping much the night before, obviously worried about her dog. She had a light dusting of freckles over the bridge of her nose and cheeks, and her hair was starting to dry into curls. And Jemma would be lying if she said that the girl knowing so much about Marie Curie wasn't at least a bit of a turn on.

Skye glanced over at Jemma when she didn't say anything, doing a double take and smiling when she noticed the girl was staring. "What?"

"Nothing." Jemma shook her head sheepishly, biting down on her lip as she mirror Skye's position and looked out the window. "Lightening struck a tree in my garden before. Completely stripped the bark from it."

"For real?" Skye's eyebrows raised as she looked over at Jemma.

"Yeah, had to chop the tree down after that, which was a shame, Winston live in there."

"I'm sorry, who?"

"He was a squirrel."

"A squirrel." Skye asked skeptically, narrowing her eyes at Jemma. "You named a squirrel Winston."

"He looked like a Winston." Jemma shrugged, her lips curving up into a little smile when Skye laughed. "Never saw him again after the tree was struck by lightening."

"Maybe he was asleep when it happened and fried."

Jemma's eyes widened because she had never thought of that.

"What? Hadn't you considered that?"

"No," Jemma pouted. "Poor Winston."

"I think it was 'poor Winston' as soon as you named him Winston."

"Winston is a nice name."

"If you say so. What color squirrel was he?"

"Red. With a little bushy Mohawk on his head."

Skye laughs again, shaking her head and turning back to look out the window.

Jemma done the same, staring out of the window for a couple of minutes before lying back on the bench.

Skye glanced over at her, "Where are you from? Like, originally. Where does that cute accent come from?"

Jemma smiles bashfully and Skye can't help but feel a little smug.

"Sheffield."

"Oh," Skye nodded, like she knew where that was.

"Do you know where that is?"

"No," Skye answered immediately.

Jemma laughed and shook her head. "It's in the middle if England. Not to far from Manchester."

"I still don't know where that is."

"Do you live far from here?"

"About fifty minutes." Skye answered. "Why did you move here? Like, to America?"

"It was for my parents, kind of. My dad got a better job in Canada so we moved to Calgary. Then, when I was done with veterinarian school I moved to New York with Fitz and we opened this place."

"And Fitz is your… Boyfriend? Brother?"

"Best friend. His dad also got transferred so we pretty much moved to Calgary together."

"Ah," Skye nodded, tapping her fingers on the windowsill as she turned back to look out the glass. "No boyfriend, then?"

"Who has time?"

"I would have thought you would have had guys hitting on you all the time, even at work."

"And why is that?" Jemma raised her eyebrows and clasped her hands over her stomach.

"I thought that would've been obvious." Skye stated, turning to look at Jemma, rolling her eyes when the Brit shook her head. "Well, I mean, you're beautiful and obviously clever. The accent just makes you extra intriguing to us Americans."

Jemma chuckled, somewhat bashfully and shook her head. "Nah, that doesn't happen often."

"And when it does?"

Jemma shrugged, picking at her nails. "They just aren't my cuppa tea."

Skye seemed to understand but didn't comment, instead just gave Jemma a little half smile. "How very british."

It was another two hours of pointless conversation, laughing and Jemma making them a cup of tea before there was quiet whining from the back room.

"Can I…"

"Yeah, of course." Jemma stood up and began leading Skye towards the back. "I thought you were here to see him when he woke up and not just for the lovely company."

Skye just smiled at Jemma, rushing over to the kennel where Comet was standing, leaning against the metal sides.

"He will be a little bit sluggish with the anesthesia but if you want to bring him through to the reception area we can feed him."

"You don't mind if I hang out here until your shift is over, do you?" Skye asked as she picked up Comet, cautiously hugging him to her chest. "I get if you want shot of me,"

"No, I don't mind." Jemma assured, smiling when Comet lazily picked up his head and licked under Skye's chin. "I will go get him food."

Skye nodded, kissing Comet repeatedly all over his head and face.

Jemma smiled at the interaction, it was amazing just how many people treated there pets like animals and not part of their family.

Jemma went into walking cupboard, picking up a tin of dog food and a disposable dog bowl.

"Will he but able to walk with that cast on?" Skye asked when Jemma walked back into the reception area.

Skye was sitting on the floor, her back against the bench with Comet lying in between her legs, his chin resting on her thigh.

"Yeah, once the anesthetic wears off completely he will be fine." Jemma explained, popping the top of the tin and dumping half of it into the foil bowl.

Jemma placed the bowl in front of the puppy and gave him a light pet on the head.

"Why are you in here on your own? I thought you would need a few vets on call?"

"There are other vets on call for home visits if they're needed but after six we only really need one vet in here because it isn't busy. During the day there are three residents in here. Fitz comes in at three tonight and two of our four other residents come in at nine."

"So either you and your friend Fitz are in here at any one time."

"Nah, Fitz gets off tomorrow at two and I start at five." Jemma sat cross-legged in front of Skye, watching Comet stumble a little to get the the food bowl. "Who did you get him with?"

Skye looked up at Jemma, running her fingers absentmindedly through the puppies fur. "What do you mean?"

"Like, a flatmate, boyfriend?"

"No," Skye laughed a little, shaking her head. "I got him on my own. My parents moved out and it's lonely in a big house."

"Your _parents_ moved out?"

"That's what I'm telling people." Jemma narrowed her eyes, not entirely sure how to take that but smiled when Skye laughed. "I'm kidding. They bought the house I'm living in right now but recently decided they wanted to go live it up in Florida so they just left me living there."

"Ah. I thought I was going to be seeing you on americas most wanted with the heading 'daughter kills parents and feeds them to the dog'."

"I wouldn't do that to Comet."

"Ah, that's good to know." Jemma hops to her feet and moves behind the front desk, leaving Skye to cuddle with Comet as she finished off some paper work that she still had to do.

Comet seemed to become a little more active over the next ten minutes, getting more comfortable on his casted leg, and starting climbing all over Skye, obviously happy to see her again after twenty four hours away from her.

Jemma tried to concentrate on her paper work, honestly she did, but her eyes kept wandering to Skye who was playing with Comet, laughed as the puppy clambered over her, licking at her face.

Jemma took the fact that Skye was distracted by the puppy to really look at the girl without the prospect of being caught. Her hair was all frizzy because she had let it dry on its own and her face was completely void of make up, making the bags under her eyes more prominent, but Jemma would be damned if this girl wasn't the prettiest girl she's even laid eyes on. And then she laughed and Jemma's stomach rolled. After that she _made_ herself concentrate on her paper work instead of staring at one of her patents.

It took Comet a good hour to run out of energy, stopping midway through climbing onto Skye's leg, his butt sticking up in the air while his face was planted on the cold tiled floor, and fell asleep.

"Do you want tea?" Jemma asked quietly as to not wake the puppy, peering over the desk at Skye.

Skye nodded, smiling up at Jemma as she played with one of Comet's ears.

Jemma disappeared through the back to pop the kettle on, glancing up at the clock and sighing as she leant back against the counter. One am. Only two hours left before she could go home and sleep.

Skye was in the same position as before when Jemma emerged with her tea, obviously afraid to move incase she woke Comet.

"Thank you." Jemma yawned as she nodded, about to move back behind the desk when Skye spoke up. "I'm I boring now?"

"Sorry?"

"It's fine, come sit down." Skye grinned, telling Jemma that she knew that wasn't the context she was using that word in. "Take a break from whatever it was you were doing, you seemed to be really into it before, you deserve a break."

"Ok, sure." Jemma agreed, groaning as she lowered herself to sit down beside Skye who laughed quietly.

"You sounded like you are ninety years old."

"Maybe I am." Jemma leant her head back against the bench behind them, letting her head roll to the side to look at Skye. "Maybe this is what a ninety year old looks like in England."

"Then I want to move to England." Skye bantered, grinning over the rim of her cups.

"How haven't you just passed out? Aren't you exhausted?"

"Yeah but I guess I'm just happy that Comet is ok. I will probably crash soon, though."

"That isn't safe to drive an hour away to get home."

"It'll be fine. Tea has caffeine, right?"

"Yeah but that's won't make it safe. Maybe you should stay at mine tonight." Jemma suggested before her mind could even register the words.

Skye grinned a little, arching her eyebrows at Jemma. "At least buy me dinner first, Doctor Simmons."

"No, no. I don't-" Jemma shook her head, a red tint taking over her cheeks. "I meant because of the storm. It's dangerous enough but being tired impairs your judgement just as much as being drunk would. I don't want you injuring yourself."

Skye's grin turns into more of a smile, her eyes dropping to watch her fingers run through Comet's fur. "Isn't your job to just look after the pets?"

Jemma hummed, "As a vet, yes. But I'm not offering because it's my job, I'm offering because I care about your well being."

Skye's head tilted curiously at those words, frowning over at Jemma. "Ok."

"I start at five tomorrow by then Comet will be ready to go."

"Are you in here on your own often?"

"We usually have a coupe of patents but because of the storm."

"I would be so bored. I would have to set up a gaming system on that TV." Skye nodded up to the TV that was silently playing some sort of documentary.

"I never thought of doing that. I usually just read when it's slow."

Skye nodded, her attention being caught by Comet who yawned loudly with a little squeak, moving to turn on his back, his hind legs falling open and his front legs bending under his chin. "He is a gentleman."

Jemma laughed a little and nodded.

"Do you have anymore animals? Other than your dog."

"None that are mine. I have a few rescue animals that Fitz and I are sort of rehabilitating. When they are better they go back to the animal shelter where they find them a loving home."

"What are you guys looking after?"

"We have a tortoise and two kittens."

"What happened to them?"

"The tortoise was found in someones house, it's a big tortoise so she would have been walking around the house freely. We don't really know what happened but from the looks of it something was dropped on her and cracked her shell, which is bad, but the owner didn't seem to care. The only reason we knew was because someone reported it. And the kittens were found in an abandoned home. There was initially nine. Four of which were already dead by the time they were found and three had been injured by rats to the point where they just couldn't be saved, we tried but there was nothing we could do. The two that we have right now, one is missing an eye and the other one is narcoleptic, believe it or not."

"That's really great of you guys, to look after them."

"Most people would do it given the chance." Jemma said humbly.

"No they wouldn't. Some people just get pets for how cute they are."

"You see that a lot here." Jemma agreed. "It's mad how many people bring there pets in here and turn down getting them vaccinated or de-wormed or chipped."

"I wasn't sure about getting Comet chipped because someone told me it was dangerous but, right now, I'm glad I didn't listen to them."

"It's not dangerous at all or we wouldn't suggest doing it." Jemma said with a little eye roll, turning her body to face Skye, placing her elbow on the bench beside her and probing her cheek on her fist. "Contrary to what people believe, we aren't just trying to get as much cash as we can from you, we want to look after the animals as much as the owners do."

"Are you sure about that? You look like a crook." Skye teased, grinning playfully over at Jemma.

"I am but only in my free time."

"Mm, ok. It's always good to have a hobby." Skye turned her head to grin at Jemma.

Jemma melted a little at the grin, averting her eyes to stop her from just outright starting at Skye.

"How do you turn this up?" Skye nodded towards the tv where a baby polar bear was hopping from block of ice to block of ice.

"I'll do it." Jemma pushed herself off the ground and tip toed to reach over the reception desk, grabbing the tv remote. She sunk back down next to Skye, turning up the TV a couple of notches.

"Do you live near by?" Skye asked, not taking her eyes away from the TV that was explaining how polar bears can swim for one hundred miles at a time.

"Yeah. We live over on Central Park West so it isn't even a five minutes walk."

"You live right by Central Park?" Skye moved her eyes to Jemma. "That would be so cool."

"Where do you live?"

"Greenhaven."

"And that's where?"

"Westchester."

"The suburbs?" Jemma asked and, honestly, she didn't mean to sound that surprised. "Like, not just the suburbs but the rich people suburbs?"

"Maybe," Skye answered unsurely. "If it was would it make you look at me differently?"

"No, of course not." Jemma shook her head, frowning at Skye. "You just don't look… Suburban."

"And thank _god_ for that." Skye laughed, letting her head fall back against the bench behind her. "People act differently with you when you tell them you are from there. They think you are stuck up, which I _completely_understand because I live there and the people _suck_."

"Why don't you move?"

"The house there is bought and paid for. I don't need to pay anything and if I move out I would have to pay rent." Skye shrugged lazily. "It's fine anyway, none of the people there even bother to talk to me, I'm too 'alternative', to quote one of my moms friends."

"Alternative? What does that even mean?"

"Fuck if I know." Skye chuckled, shrugging again. "I'm just not like their kids. All done up, always looking pristine and I would go to the store without make up on and in sweats, which is outrageous to them. All of them went to some top university to be a doctor or lawyer or business dude and I work for the government. If you don't follow ther dumb rules they don't like you."

"You work for the government? You aren't a secret agent, are you?"

"If I told you I would have to kill you." Skye tried to keep a straight face but a grin broke out on her lips. "No, I'm kidding. I'm just good with computers so it's just stuff like that."

"I don't know if I believe you. You look like a super secret spy to me."

"If I was I couldn't tell you." Skye grinned cheekily over at Jemma before averting her eyes back to the TV.

"I've met a polar bear before."

"You have? How?"

"One of the ones in Central Park zoo had a tooth decaying really bad so they called Fitz and I in."

"Don't they have veterinarians in the zoo?"

"No. They have a contract with us. We look after all of their animals."

"That would be so cool." Skye gushed. "They have all kinds of cool animals in there."

"Some of which bite."

"I thought you sedated them?"

"We do but the first couple of times we worked with the zoo we worked some people from other clinics and one of them was obviously new. He was shaking and nervous and Fitz and I made the mistake of letting him sedate the little baby red panda we were treating, poor little thing broke his leg playing with his siblings. The guy didn't use nearly enough and the red panda woke up during the operation and bit me." Jemma rolled up her sleeve to show Skye the bite mark just believe the bend in her elbow. "Can't say I blame him, I would want to bite the doctor too if I woke up during surgery."

"That's mean looking." Skye ran her pointer finger over the raised skin. "Have you been bitten any other times?"

"Yeah, we get reptiles in here and they tend to give you a little bite."

"I couldn't deal with spiders. Do you get spiders in here?"

"A few. Not many, though."

Skye shivered, baring her teeth in disgust.

"Yeah, Fitz is the same, he won't go near a spider. Screams if there is one in the house."

"I don't blame him."

Both girls spent the next hour and a half walking the remainder of the documentary about polar bears then watched one about cheetas that was just about to finish when Fitz came stomping through the door.

"That's bloody cat. I'm telling you, it's evil, Jemma!" Fitz snapped, taking of his coat before turning to Jemma, holding his hand up to show the scratch marks that matched the ones on his face. "Look at the state…" He trailed off when his eyes landed on Skye, his angry frown turning into a curious one. "Oh, hi."

"Fitz, this is Skye. Her dog was brought in earlier today." Jemma explained, turning to Skye. "Why don't you take him back to his kennel and we can get going?"

Skye nodded, smiling at Fitz as she stood up and picked up Comet, carrying him down the hallway.

"_We_ can go?" Fitz asked incredulously. "Where are you both going? You can't just pick up patients, Jemma."

"I know, Fitz. She lives an hour away, she can't drive in this storm with no sleep in the past two days so I offered her our couch."

"Oh, you did. And it's nothing to do with the fact she pretty?"

"Of course not." Jemma scoffed.

"You can't pick up patents, remember?"

"She isn't a patent. This isn't her usual vet." Jemma shot back childishly.

"Jemma," Fitz warned, stopping when Skye walked towards them.

"Is everything ok?" She asked with a worried frown.

"Yeah, Fitz was just promising to look after Comet, weren't you?"

"Yeah," Fitz gave Skye his best smile, that was completely unbelievable. "I'll look after Comet and Jemma will look after you."

"Fitz!"

"Listen, if it's a problem I can drive home." Skye assured.

Fitz looked somewhat guiltily out the wind where the storm only seemed to be getting worse and shook his head, reaching over to grab his coat.

"No, I'm sorry. Here." Fitz handed it to Skye who looked a little confused. "Just bring it back tomorrow."

"Thank you."

Fitz nodded stiffly, smiling at the girls before walking towards the front desk.

"So you are both unbelievably nice, then?" Skye raised her eyebrows at Jemma who was pulling on her coat and grabbing her umbrella.

"The reason he was snappy was because of the kitten, she doesn't like Fitz and uses him as a scratching post."

"One eyed devil, that one." Fitz murmured behind the desk, riffling through the paper work Jemma hadn't done. "There is pizza on the counter."

"Thanks, Fitz." Jemma smiled, opening the door and opening up the umbrella. "See you tomorrow, Fitz." She called, stepping out into the rain, holding her umbrella a little higher than she would normally have to to accommodate Skye.

"Will this cat attack me?" Skye called over the rain and whistling wind, taking the umbrella from Jemma to save her the extra strain on her arm and shuffled a little closer to the Brit.

"Nah. She seems to only have a problem with men and, from what I can tell, you aren't a man."

"Observant." Grinned Skye, covering the hand that was holding the umbrella with the sleeve of FItz's jacket to shield it from the cold and stuffed the other one in the pocket of Jemma's sweats.

"You didn't have storms like these in England. It rained, constantly, actually, but rarely to this extent."

"You never been through one this bad?"

"There was pretty bad snow storms in Calgary but a storm like this, with thunder, rain and wind this fast, no."

"Are you scared? 'Cause I can totally keep you safe." Skye smiled flirtatiously down at Jemma who rolled her eyes to try and mask just how charmed she was.

"Charming."

"Oh, you think so? I've been practicing."

"Well, there is always room for improvement." Jemma teased.

"Ouch. Who knew little miss veterinarian had bite?"

"Who knew _little miss _suburbia could be charming?"

"Hey," Skye huffed, glaring playfully at Jemma. "I may be from the suburbs but I'm only, like, forty-five percent suburban at heart." She joked.

"I honestly don't think any part of you is suburban."

"That's the best compliment I've ever gotten, thank you." Skye seemed genuinely flattered by what Jemma had said and that confused Jemma a little, she didn't understand what was so bad about being from the suburbs but, then again, she had never been there.

"What's so bad about it? The suburbs."

"It's not really the place, it's the people. They're just all up themselves and think they're better than everyone else and that's just not what life's about. At least not for me," Skye explained, indicating to herself. "I don't think it's right to make people feel unsure about themselves, make them afraid to leave the house incase they don't look good enough. Their morals are all wrong and then you come down to the city and people are walking around in all these colorful clothes and skateboarding to work and people on every other corner performing magic and singing a really awesome song. And I'm just like 'dude, this is awesome. These people don't give a shit'."

"I never thought buskers and skateboarders would be you favorite thing about the city."

"There is loads of things I love about this place. It just seems to be so full of life all the time but in Greenhaven it's like there's a curfew at ten. Everybody's lights just seem to go out at that time."

"You should come down here more often, then." Jemma suggested, pushing the door to her apartment building and held it open for Skye.

"Are you just suggesting that so you can see me more often because, honestly, I wouldn't mind traveling a whole hour just to see you."

Jemma smiled bashfully, unable to hide her blush this time.

Skye grinned at the redness on the girls cheeks, watching her fumble nervously with her keys and pushed the front door open when she had finally gotten the door unlocked. Skye wasn't expecting to be rushed upon by a large, gray and white husky and two kittens about the size of the dogs pawns.

"Hey, guys." Jemma dropped her keys into the bowl beside the door and crouched down beside the animals, petting each one in turn.

"Where's the other one?" Skye asked, crouching down with Jemma, laughing when the animals turned their attention to her and the kittens began jumping at her knees.

"She's a little slower than these guys." Jemma joked, standing up straight and sliding her jacket off, hooking it onto the hook by the door. "I will just get you something to wear."

Skye done the same and followed Jemma further into the apartment, the animals following at her heels, walking over to the window when Jemma turned into what Skye assumed was her room.

The apartment was nice, Skye thought, she had always thought open plan kitchens were pretty cool.

Skye leant her hands against the windowsill, looking over Central Park, or at least what she could see of it in the torrential rain.

"Man, you must get an amazing view when it's a clear day." Skye said when she heard footsteps behind her and turned to lean back against the windowsill.

"Yeah, that's one of the main reasons Fitz and I got this place. We were looking at apartments in the winter time and it was snowing. Fitz and I looked out here and saw Central Park covered with snow. It was so beautiful." Jemma gushed, handing Skye a pair of blue pajama bottoms and a pajama shirt to match. "I had to play rock, paper, scissors with Fitz to see who go the room facing the park. I was ready to fight him for it. It has this huge window, like almost touches the floor."

"Who won?"

"Me. Fitz is predictable, always going for paper first. I have my bed against the window so, thats pretty great. Maybe not in this weather, though, I feel like something is going to come flying through the window with this wind."

Skye laughed, holding up the clothes in her hand. "Anywhere I can change into these?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Bathroom is over there." Jemma pointed towards the door just by the kitchen.

Skye nodded and smiled gratefully at Jemma before heading into the bathroom.

When Skye reemerged from the bathroom there was two blankets on the sofa, a plate with two slices of pizza and a mug full of something steaming, probably tea. "You sure know how to make a girl feel special."

"You don't mind if the animals have free rein of the house, do you? I could lock them in Fitz's room."

"No. No, of course."

"That is Squirtle just over there." Jemma pointed over to the kitchen isle where the tortoise was sitting, chewing loudly on lettuce. "The one eyed kitten is called Hook and the narcoleptic one is called Hypnos."

"Ok, wow. Slow down. One; naming your turtle after the turtle pokemon. Genius."

"Tortoise." Jemma corrected quietly.

"The Hook name is obvious but Hypnos?"

"He's narcoleptic, which means he falls asleep at random intervals, and Hypnos is the name of the greek god of sleep."

"Ah, clever." Skye nodded, looking over the back of the sofa at the tortoise. "Is that wires all over her back."

"Yeah, we had to to keep her shell together. There was honestly only about an inch or two holding it together."

"Poor thing."

Jemma hummed in agreement, rubbing her eyes with her fists. "If you wake up before me just make yourself at home." Jemma murmured, sleepiness suddenly heavy in her voice.

Skye smiled at how adorable Jemma looked, the words "You're adorable," leaving her lips before she could stop them but when she did realize she tried to back track. "I mean- you, um… Yeah, no. You _are_ adorable."

Jemma grinned at Skye's rambling, raising her eyebrows as she waited for her to finish.

"Oh, god." Skye huffed, covering her face with her hands and chuckling nervously.

"You're cute." Jemma commented and Skye let her hands fall from her face, gazing up Jemma. "Goodnight, Skye."

"Yeah, g'night, Doctor Simmons."

Jemma smiled and rolled her eyes, spinning on the balls of her feet and walked briskly into her room.

Skye took a few bites of the pizza and a couple of sips of her tea before reaching over to turn the lap off and settled down on the sofa, pulling the covers up to her chin.

Her eyes were burning with how tired she was, and just as she was falling asleep she felt something crawl up her legs and over her torso, curling up into a ball on her chest.

Skye peeked one eye open to see a white ball of fluff on her chest, she didn't know which kitten it was since she couldn't see its face. She smiled sleepily, petting the animal a few times, causing it to purr, before letting her hand fall to her side and giving into her exhaustion.


	2. Chapter 2

When Jemma woke up the next day she sleepily walked out of her room, surprised to find the Skye was not longer on the sofa and the blankets she was using were folded on the arm of the chair, along with her pajamas and a little square of paper folded on top.

Jemma walked over the the pile and picked up the paper, which had her name rather messily scribbled over the front. She couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her lips, of course Skye had messy handwriting.

_'Fitz brought Comet back with him when he finished so I'm going to get out of your hair. Thank you for everything, I owe you guys one.'_

"Disappointed?" Jemma jumped at the sudden noise, wheeling around to see Fitz standing there.

"What?" Jemma frowned, glancing down at the paper in her hand and shook her head. "No, of course not." She lied because, yeah, she's disappointed. She wanted to walk back to the clinic with Skye and watch Skye be all happy with Comet again. Really she just wanted to spend a little more time in Skye's company because, for the first time since she was a teenager, her mind wasn't completely focused on work or studying and that was refreshing. "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I'm just going to pee."

"Did you tell Skye everything about Comet?"

"Of course. I told her that she would have to go see her vet in two weeks and every month after that until the doctor sees fit. And that she should feed him biscuits high in calcium for the bones." Fitz waved his hand dismissively as he walked across the room to the bathroom. "She seemed like she didn't want to leave, if that's any consolation."

"Fitz, we talked about you peeing with the door open!" Jemma scolded when she heard the sound of her best friend peeing.

"Oh, come on. We are best friends, I've seen you naked."

"Yes, and after that we had to talk about the importance of not using the toilet while I'm showering." Jemma argued.

"What kind of friendship would we have if I we aren't able to be around each other naked." Fitz walked out of the bathroom, almost automatically stepping of the tortoise that was outside the door, it was something both of them had gotten used to, stepping over various animals.

"A normal one." Jemma glared at Fitz, dropping the note onto the table and heading into her room to get changed.

"And that would be boring." She heard Fitz laugh before his door clicked closed.

Jemma rolled her eyes at Fitz and finished getting dressed. She quickly petted each animal, holding out a leaf of lettuce to Squirtle before leaving the house to walk the short distance to her work.

Last nights storm had passed and the sun was trying to push it's way throughout the left over clouds. She was just glad she didn't have to worry about a tree branch smashing through her window.

Jemma was glad to have a day off with Fitz, she loved her work and would't trade it for the world, but their schedules usually resulted in them passing by each other. One going to bed as the other is going to work and she missed him.

"Don't put as much spice in it as you did the last time," Jemma warned from her seat of the breakfast bar, lightly swinging her legs to playfully nudge Curie's face with one foot and Fitz's butt with the other.

"Yes, Simmons, I know." Fitz sneered, batting Jemma's foot away.

"'Cause the last time I think you burned my tastebuds off it was so spicy, I couldn't taste a thing for hours after it."

"You are supposed to be teaching me how to cook." Fitz huffed, turning to look at Jemma. "Not insulting me."

"I am teaching you. I'm telling you your mistakes so you can learn from them." Jemma grins, thunking Fitz's head with a wooden spoon.

"You are the worst," Fitz pouted, turning back to continue stirring the curry. "I wish I was working right now."

"Not you don't, you missed me."

"Mm, well, according to Sharon you've been sulking around for the past few days. Now, remind me, what happened two days ago." Fitz taps his chin, pretending to be thinking and Jemma rolls her eyes, picking up Hook who was walking across the breakfast bar towards her. "Oh, that's right, we met Skye."

"Ok, for one, I haven't been pouting, Doctor Carter is lying." Jemma scoffed, cursing Sharon for telling Fitz, but at least she hadn't told him that Jemma had mentioned her once or twice (or ten times). "And two, I don't even care about Skye. You are the one who brought her up, maybe it's you who cares?"

"Yeah, ok." Fitz laughs, picking up the chopping board full of vegetables from beside Jemma and dumped it into the pot.

"You would be lost without me, living on microwave meals and take out, like when we were students."

"I would've learnt to cook." Fitz argued with a scoff, dropping a piece of chopped carrot in front of Squirtle. "Is she from around here?"

"Who?" Jemma asked, though she knew exactly who Fitz was talking about.

"Skye."

"Oh. Nah, she lives somewhere upstate. Rye, or something." Jemma shrugged nonchalantly. "The suburbs."

"She didn't seem very suburban." Fitz commented, leaning back against the counter beside the cooker. "And how did her dog get all the way down here?"

"Beats me."

"Mm. Go get 'Breaking Bad' ready, this will be ready to serve soon."

"Are you sure you can handle this without me?" Jemma teased, hopping down from the counter and setting Hook on the floor.

Fitz ignored Jemma, turning his attention fully back to what he was cooking.

Jemma went over and placed the DVD into the player, starting it up from where they had previously left off.

Fitz served the food and walked over to the sofa, balancing both plates on one arm, carrying two glasses and a bottle of whine under his other arm.

"I don't want you to think that I'm judging you or anything." Fitz said as he leant back against the cushions, balancing his on his thighs.

"About what?" Jemma raised her eyebrows over the top of her whine glass as she took a sip.

"I mean, if you like this girl that's fine. I know I had a go at you before but that was because I thought she was a patient of ours."

Jemma sighed and rolled her eyes. "I told you, Fitz, I do _not_ like her."

"Ok, ok." Fitz held up his hands in defense, turning his eyes back to the tv. "You were smitten by her, though, I could tell by the way you looked at her."

"Just drop it, will you."

"Ok, consider it dropped." Fitz nodded, tucking into the food in front of him.

"This is good." Jemma hummed, pointing down to the plate with her fork

Jemma absentmindedly reached over for the phone on her desk, tapping her pen against the documents she was filling in as she put the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"You have a patient waiting to see you." The voice one of her workmate, Sharon, told her.

Jemma frowned, glancing down at her watch. "Are you sure? I'm sure I don't have any appointments until this afternoon."

"You don't but they are specifically asking for you."

Jemma glanced at the small stack of paper work she still had to finish, it wouldn't take long to finished, she could fit in one patient.

"Ok, sure. Just sent them down." Jemma hung up the phone and set about finishing what little she had left of the document she was currently on. "I'll be with you in a second." She said when she heard the door open, frowning when a puppy sat down beside her and nudged her leg with it's nose, she recognized this dog. "Hey, Comet."

"Nice to know you remember us."

Jemma glanced up at Skye who was leaning against the door frame, her arms crossed over her chest as she grinned at Jemma.

"I'm not the one who left the next day."

Skye looked a little guilty and taken aback by the comment. "I just thought you would've wanted me out of your hair."

"Did I gave you any indication that that was the case?"

"Well, no. But I thought you were just being nice. I didn't want to over stay my welcome."

Jemma sighed and straightened up. "What are you doing here, Skye?"

"I transferred." Skye confessed and Jemma raised her eyebrows in surprise.

"Because we were the ones who originally handled your case?" She asked slowly.

"Sure. That sounds less creepy than transferring because I thought the veterinarian was cute." Skye smiled sheepishly and Jemma wanted to stay mad but that grin coupled with that compliment she just couldn't. "I'm sorry, ok? I didn't know you wanted me around, that's a new premiss for me. I wouldn't have left if I thought otherwise."

"It's fine." Jemma gave Skye a quick smile before turning her attention to the dog. "How are you doing on that leg buddy?"

"He's been better. Running around, rather clumsily, on it. He keeps tripping over himself on the grass." Skye said with a chuckle.

"And he hasn't been off his food? Or biting at the cast?"

"No, he still eats like a small army." Skye answered, wringing her hands together. "I feel like you're mad at me."

"I'm not mad you." Jemma chuckled, looking up at Skye.

"Oh, ok. Good." Skye nodded, "How have you been? How's your turtle?"

"Tortoise." Jemma corrected causing a little grin to break out on Skye's lips, indicating to Jemma that she done it on purpose. "And I've been ok. Dreading this afternoon."

"Why? What's happening?"

"We have this dog coming in. She's old and can't even stand on her own anymore, it wouldn't be humane to let her live with that kind of pain."

A look of sympathy washed over Skye's face when she realized what that mean. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry."

"It's all part of the job." Jemma shrugged halfheartedly, "Has he been sleeping more than usual?"

"No, not that I've noticed."

Jemma nodded, giving the dog a treat and patting his head. "He's doing good, he doesn't seem to be having any of the side effect of the medication."

"So, what? We are done?"

"Mmhm," Jemma hummed. "I'll have to take his blood pressure but you can just do these appointments over the phone for the next two months."

"I don't have a phone." Skye lied. "I'm Amish."

Jemma brought her hand up to her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing, failing miserably. Skye grinned at the fact she got the girl to laugh.

"You are an idiot. The reason you ended up here in the first place is because I called you up." Jemma pointed out, picking up Comet and setting him on the table.

"Would you rather we done it over the phone." Skye asked, her face morphing into surprised and embarrassment at how that sounded. "I mean _this._ Not-not, well, you know."

"I know what you meant." Jemma laughed, pulling out the EKG machine. "And no. I just thought I would have been easier for you. Can you hold him still for me."

"Like I said the other night, I wouldn't mind traveling for an hour to see you." Skye began, moving to hold Comet gently across the chest. "Hell, I'd even take the tube for a _whole hour _if I know you were on the other end. Tell me that isn't friendship."

Jemma wrapped the cuff around Comet's front right leg, pushing a button on the machine to start it up. "You just like coming to the city." Jemma smiled cheekily up at Skye before turning her attention to the machine. "Ninety over one-oh-nine. Perfect."

"So, he's good?"

"Yeah, we couldn't ask for him to be doing any better," Jemma agreed, unstrapping the cuff and scratching under Comet's ears. "He's a tough little guy."

Skye smiled, watching as Comet licked Jemma's nose.

"Look's like we're done."

"Are you, like, working up until the appointment you have this afternoon?" Skye asked, picking Comet up and setting him on the floor.

"Yeah, I have paperwork to finish off." Jemma answered, opening the door to the room and leading both Skye and Comet out, picking up a chew stick and placing it in Comet's mouth once they reached the reception area.

She was being short with Skye, she knew that, and it wasn't that she didn't _want_ to spend time with Skye, she just wasn't in the mood for _any_ company. She needed some time to herself before her appointment this afternoon..

Skye noticed she was being short, too, and nodded, clipping the leash onto Comet's collar. "Ok, I guess I'll, uh, see you next time."

"Yeah, just call up closer to the time to make an appointment."

Skye nodded again, giving Jemma a half smile before turning and leaving, Comet trailing at her heels.

"Man, she so likes you." Sharon laughed, shaking her head as her eyes trained on the computer.

"Yeah, that was painful to watch. What did she do to you for you to act like that?" Maria asked, sliding up onto the reception desk.

"Nothing. I just don't need any friends right now." Jemma shrugged, leaning against the counter beside Maria.

"Well thats good because she doesn't want to be your _friend_." Maria grinned.

"Nope," Sharon added. "Not even a little bit."

Jemma rolled her eyes, opening her mouth to tell her friends to shut up but stopped when the door opened and Skye marched back into clinic.

"Did you forget something?" Jemma asked, pushing herself away from the desk to stand up straight.

"Yeah." Skye nodded confidently. "Your number."

Jemma heard Sharon gasp a little behind her and she could _see_ Maria nodding in approval as she slid of the desk and moved away to give the girls privacy, but didn't move completely out of earshot. "You have my number..."

"No, your personal number." Skye said, her confident wavering but she tried her best to hide it. "Will you go out with me? Tonight, tomorrow, next week, I don't care as long as it happens. I mean, Comet can't stop thinking about you." Skye pointed down at her dog who was to busy chewing on the treat Jemma had given him to pay the vet any mind.

"Yeah, looks like it." Jemma nodded, grinning up at Skye who glared at her dog like it was his fault, like he wasn't following his end of the plan.

"Fine. I can't stop thinking about but whatever."

"I'm not- I mean, I'm flattered but I'm not really look for anything serious."

Skye faltered but it was only a second before that smile was back on her face. "No, totally, me either. I just wanna be your friend."

"Really?" Jemma asked skeptically, narrowing her eyes at Skye.

"Yeah. I get that you're working most of the time but for when you're not and Fitz is I can be the one you have pizza with and watch, you know, stuff about well knows chemists and snow bears." Skye tried, smiling hopefully at Jemma.

Jemma tried to stay serious but a smile forced it way on her lips at Skye's smile and she rolled her eyes.

"I bet you could use something to take your mind off everything after work tonight. I could take you out for a drink, or something to eat, or we could just go for walk."

"I could probably use a drink after, yeah."

"Ok," Skye grinned. "I mean, I can't drink because I'll be driving but, whatever."

"If that's the case then why don't we just go for a walk?" Jemma suggested. "Through the park or something."

"Yeah, what time do you finish? We can get ice cream."

"I finish at six." Jemma offered, her stomach rolling when Skye grinned excitedly, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet.

"Ok, cool. I'll stop by then." Skye beamed, biting down on her bottom lip to try and hide the smile on her face as she spun on her heels and left again.

"She is adorable." Maria jested, elbowing Jemma's side.

"I wish someone got _that_ excited about spending time with me." Sharon chimed in and Maria hummed.

"She was vibrating. Like, literally vibrating."

"She definitely doesn't want to just be your friend, you realize that, don't you?"

"I have paper work to do." Jemma muttered, glaring at both woman before. "You both also have patients." Jemma raised her eyebrows, nodding towards the people waiting in the reception, most of them filling out forms, and headed towards the back room.

"Looks like your _friend_ is waiting for you." Maria patted Jemma on the back, somewhat sympathetically, it was never easy to put an animal down, for any of them.

Jemma slid off her work coat and hooked it up. "I'll see you girls tomorrow."

"Good luck with ice cream." Sharon gibed, grinning over at Jemma and the Brit couldn't be more thankful that these were the people she had chosen to hire, even with all the teasing and playfulness they were still there for her whenever she needed them.

"Yeah, text us when you get home. Tell us how you're doing and how the non-date went."

"And tell us if she kissed you good night. You know, in a friendly way."

Jemma rolled her eyes at them, waving over her shoulder as she walked towards the door. "Bye."

Skye's eyes lifted from watching her foot that was kick a stone around to Jemma when she heard the door open, smiled when her eyes landed on the Brit. "Hey, I got you, uh," Skye held out a Slurpee to Jemma, smiling cutely at her. "Whenever I'm sad or upset I drive to seven-eleven and get one of these. I'm thinking now that maybe it's the drive that makes me feel better but yeah."

Jemma smiled, accepting the cold drink Skye was holding out to her. "Thank you."

"How are you feeling?"

"Yeah, ok." Jemma nodded, bringing the straw up to her mouth and taking a sip.

"Really? Because I know I would be really cut up about it, even though I knew it was the best thing for the dog." Skye glanced down at Jemma as they set off towards Central Park.

Jemma shrugged, peering up at Skye. "It's something you have to do, isn't it? It's not all puppies and kittens."

Skye studied Jemma for a few seconds before nodding, figuring the girl had done this enough time to deal with it on her own, and she obviously didn't want to talk about it. "I know you probably have your own way of dealing with it by now but if you ever _do_ need to talk you can talk to me."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you."

Skye smiled and nodded. "Ok, now ice cream," Skye's smiled turned into a little grin and she bounced on the balls of her feet as she walked. "I know this stand that does multicolored soft serve. It doesn't really tasted different, it's ultimately just vanilla colored with all different kinds of food coloring but it looks pretty cool."

"I still haven't really had a chance to explore." Jemma admitted, "I've been down here for a year but starting up a new business takes up all of your time so I haven't been many places."

"Well, I can be your own personal tour guide." Skye declared, grinning as she held her arms out and spun around in a circle as they walked. "This city is wonderful if you know where to go. We can do generic touristy stuff. The Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Coney Island, Empire State Building. We can even even go to the Museum of Modern Art, if that's the kinda thing you're into. And I can show you the best places to eat, the best places to take your future lady friends out on a date."

Jemma rolled her eyes at the last sentence, smiling over at Skye. "Skye..."

"No, I know. Nothing serious," Skye held up her hands in defense. "But just for future reference, you know?"

"How long have you been coming down to the city?" Jemma asked, obviously trying to steer the conversation away from the current topic, throwing the empty cup in the trash.

"This was the first place I came once I passed my test so when I was sixteen." Skye answered, "I almost crashed three times, all of which were taxi's."

"Who's fault was it? Yours or the taxi drivers?"

"Definitely mine. It was a mistake to go to such a busy city my first time driving alone."

"Yeah, probably. It was a shock for me driving her for the first time." Jemma admitted.

"Anyway, enough about me, tell me about you? What's it like in England?"

"Wet, usually."

"And how long have you been away from England?"

"Well, we moved to Canada when I was fourteen then Fitz and I came down here when we were twenty four so eleven years now." Jemma explained with a satisfied nod. "My family and I used to go back to visit my nana and grandpa but after they passed there wasn't really any real reason for us to go back."

"I guess you don't miss it, then?"

"No." Jemma disagreed as they walked through the entrance to Central Park. "How did you get into computers?"

"It was just always something that interested me." Skye said with a little shrug. "It was the only thing I really had as a kid, none of the kids in my neighborhood were allowed to play with me because I wanted to go out and actually play. The boy who used to play with me got dirty because I convinced him to climb a tree, they grounded their seven year old sun for getting his clothed dirty. It's ridiculous."

"That's what kids do. They go out and get dirty." Jemma frowned, obviously baffled by the concept. "I wasn't really an 'outdoors kid' but I still got my clothes dirty sometimes."

Skye laughed at the air quotes. "What do you mean you weren't an outdoors kid?"

"I never really had any friends to go outside and play with so I usually just stayed inside, or out on the decking in my back garden when it was sunny, and play with whatever new science set my parents had bought me. The only time I ever really went outside was to dig up bugs to look at under my microscope."

"So you're into science?" Skye asked, avoiding a child that came barreling towards them, chasing after a butterfly, and stopping at the relatively busy ice cream stand.

"I originally wanted to study biochemistry but during my first college year I fell into zoology."

"So you always knew you were going to do something in science then?"

"Yeah. I was going to go study law because there wasn't many veterinarian jobs in Canada but my mum gave me a lecture about how its better to do something you love for hardly any money than to get rich doing something you hate for the rest of your life." Jemma explained. "Plus, my mum and dad are both scientist. My mum is a marine biologist and my dad is a astrophysicist."

"That's space, right?" Skye wondered, rocking lightly on her toes and peered down at Jemma.

"Yeah, kind of. It's all about the physics of the universe. He was in the extragalactic astronomy branch."

"You've lost me. What is that the study of?"

"It's mainly the study of object, mainly galaxies, outside of our own."

"Ah, so he isn't looking for ET?" Skye asked, only half jokingly.

"No but he did used to take me to the observatory in the university of Toronto when he got called out and the scientist who worked there used to explain to me how it was virtually impossible that we were the only living organisms in the universe."

Skye's eyebrows raised interestedly and she opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she realized it was their turn to order.

"Skye, I haven't seen you down here in a while." The man behind the stand asked, he looked to be in his early fifties, and smiled welcomely at Skye. "Usual?"

"Two, please." Skye motioned to Jemma and the man smiled briefly at the Brit before moving to make their ice creams. "How is business, Ben?"

"Great. It's tourists mostly, New Yorkers know better than to eat ice cream in November." Ben said, eyeing Skye. "Well, most of them do. This one isn't leading you astray, is she, kid?" The man addressed Jemma.

"She just told me your ice cream was multicolored and I was in. I really didn't take the weather into consideration."

"British, huh? Are you over here visiting?"

"No, I live here."

"This is Jemma, she owns Gotham Vet Centre." Skye added, almost proudly and Jemma couldn't stop herself from smiling over at Skye. "Pinned my dog back together after some deadbeat hit him with a car and left him."

"I'm guessing that's how you two met?"

"Yeah, she is completely smitten by me but she won't admit it." Skye grinned cheekily, looking at Jemma from the corner of her eyes.

Jemma rolled her eyes, a smile on the corner of her mouth as she brought the ice cream up to her lips.

"I'm sure she is." Ben played along.

Skye glanced over at Jemma before returning her attention to Ben. "I've got to walk the lady home, I'll see you next time."

"Bye, Skye. I hope to see you with her, Jemma."

Both girls waved at the man as they walked away.

"Are you trying to give me a cold with all this cold food you're getting me?"

"Now is my time to wow you." Skye cleared her throat playfully. "You don't get colds from being cold, you are just more likely to because your immune system isn't working fully under the cold temperatures."

"Clever. What documentary was that on?"

"I'm not sure. It was on something on the animal planet." Skye shrugged, "There is a lot of interesting shows on there. I got really into one called monsters inside me. Yeah, that show is messed up but so interesting."

"I tend to have to watch that show alone. It gives Fitz the heebie jeebies."

"He can perform surgeries on animals but can't stomach something about parasites?"

"He said it's because the stuff on that show is happening to humans which means if it happened to them could happen to him."

"That is a very valid reason. I felt like I had things crawling on me while watching it."

Jemma hummed in agreement. "Where did you park? If it was up by the clinic you don't have to walk me home." Jemma assured as they left entrance to the park and started the short walk to her apartment block.

"I parked outside your building because I planned on walking you to your door but if you don't want me to I can just get in my car and go."

"No, I was just trying to save you a trip, I wouldn't mind you walking me to my door." Jemma clarified. "What are you driving?"

"A Tesla Roadster." Skye answered, pointing to the electric blue car just outside Jemma's building.

"Those are electric cars, right?"

"Mm. I'm hardly a humanitarian or whatever but it is just as good as any car that runs on gas so I figured why not." Skye shrugged, following Jemma up the front steps and into the building. "I also felt like I had to make up for the fact that both of my parents drive SUV's."

"And you say you aren't a humanitarian." Jemma scoffs playfully, stopping outside her apartment door, fiddling with her keys. "Do you want to come in?"

_Yes_, Skye's brain was screaming but when she looked at Jemma, it didn't take a body language expert to tell this girl was drained. "Yeah, I do but you're exhausted. You've had a tough day but some other time? Maybe I could come by when you're off next."

"That sounds good. Have you ever watched space odyssey?"

"I haven't, what is it?"

"It just explains all different things about space. I still haven't watched it, maybe we could watch that?"

"Yeah, that sounds fun." Skye partially lied because no, that didn't sound all that fun to her but she didn't care right now, Jemma was actually asking her to hang out. "By the way, I meant to ask about that whole 'it being virtually impossible that we are the only living things in the universe' thing. How do they figure that?"

"Well, there are _at least_ one hundred _billion_ galaxies in the observable universe. Each of those have hundreds of billions of stars. These have numerous planets orbiting them. I personally think that it's naive of people to think we are the only living things in the universe."

"Wow. When you put it like that." Skye was in awe, she never realized just how many stars there was.

"Yeah, the universe is unbelievably large. It give me a headache when I think about it."

"I've never really thought about it."

"The show we are going to watch will make you." Jemma smiled, leaning back against her door. "Thank you for the ice cream."

"Yeah, it was my pleasure." Skye nodded, "And I'm sorry for pushing. I get that you aren't looking for anyone or whatever. I do want to be your friend, though."

"I want to be your friend, too, Skye."

Skye let out a quietly sigh of relief and smiled. "Cool. Does that mean I can get your number?"

"I'll text you tonight, ok? We have your number on file."

"Ok, I guess I'll see you whenever your off next." Skye spun on the balls of her feet to leave.

"Hey," Jemma called, effectively stopping Skye in her tracks. "Thank you for trying to make me feel better."

"Trying? So it didn't work?"

Jemma smiled appreciatively, lightly shaking her head. "You did help take my mind off of it, though, and I appreciate that."

"If you even need to talk or to get your mind off something you can call me. I'll come down and we can go get ice cream, or something less summery since it's winter. Maybe hot chocolates or something."

"Ok, we'll do that."

Skye beamed because that wasn't a half hearted maybe that was a solid answer. "Good. I'll let you go in and sleep."

Jemma gave Skye a somewhat reserved smile and nodded. "I'll text you."

"And just let me know when you want to go get hot chocolate, I know a place that does the best hot chocolate you will ever taste."

"I'm doing a pretty long shift tomorrow but how about Friday?" Jemma offered.

"What time about? I'm working until five."

"Just whenever." Jemma shrugged a little, locating the key she would need to entire her apartment.

"How about seven?"

"Ok. Will I meet you there or?"

"No, I'll pick you up here."

Jemma nodded, sliding her key into the door and unlocking it but didn't open the door. "I'll see you then."

Skye grinned widely, "Goodnight," she said before turning on the balls of her feet and leaving.

Jemma waited for her to disappear down the stairs before she opened the door, petting each animal that was sitting patently in front of her.

"Who were you talking to?" Fitz asked from the sofa, looking over the top at Jemma.

"Just a friend." Jemma shrugged off her coat and hung it up, yawning as she padded further into the apartment, the animals trailing behind her.

"You don't have any friends." Fitz teased as Jemma sat down beside him, groaning as she relaxed.

"Shut up."

"Well, who was it?"

"Skye," Jemma answered, holding up her hand because she knew Fitz was about don't jump into some kind of lecture. "Don't. I'm to tired to deal with whatever you have to say right now."

"I wasn't going to say anything. It's up to you who you date." Fitz shrugged, offering Jemma a bite of the sandwich he was eating.

"We aren't dating. Just friends." Jemma insisted, pushing the sandwich away and shaking her head. "I'm not hungry, I think I'm just going to go to bed."

"Ok, there's pasta in the fridge for when you wake up."

Jemma hummed in acknowledgment, sluggishly dragging herself into her bedroom.


End file.
